RUSSELL MARTIN revealed he disappeared down the tunnel so his players could savour their first league win of the season with the travelling fans.
Max Aarons scored deep in stoppage time to secure a 2-1 win for Rangers.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent furious punters belting out “Martin, Martin Get To F***” at the end.
Martin confessed: “I can’t control it and I can’t waste energy focusing on it.
“I have to use that energy for the players and the staff inside the building and to try and improve us and win more games.
“Hopefully if we do that, hopefully everyone will be happy.
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“But it’s why I went down the tunnel after because the players were there to enjoy it.
“It’s not about me at that point, but they could enjoy it and I have to wait for them in the dressing room.”
Deservedly ahead thanks to James Tavernier, Rangers dropped off after the break.
Livi levelled through Mo Sylla and looked to have done enough to secure a share of the points.
But Aarons struck four minutes into stoppage time to keep his gaffer in a job.
Now Martin hopes the win can ignite Gers’ season.
He said: “I’m really proud of the players. We deserved to win.
“The first half was the best we’ve played all season. We should have scored more goals for sure.
“We didn’t start the second half well. We didn’t control it enough.
“The gap between the first half and the second was big.
“But in the last 30 minutes, we were halfway into their final third, a lot of brilliant performances.
“I’m really pleased for the players because they showed how hard they’re fighting for each other.
“I think that’s grown in the last three or four weeks, that character and resilience they’ve been developing.
“Today is a big step for us and we need to use that as a catalyst to kick on.
“I thought there were some really big performances.
“I’d rather be three-nil up at half-time, but I think it could be a really big moment for us.
“I felt really good about addressing them. I enjoyed their celebrations.
“As I said to them, we deserve it.
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“We have to celebrate that with the group because that wasn’t quite there at the start of the journey.
“They have to keep doing that and if they keep doing that, we’ll win more games.”
Livi boss David Martindale was gutted not to take a point.
He sighed: “It was really disappointing, we didn’t come into the game looking for a point.
“We felt we could beat Rangers today and I am really disappointed we didn’t take at least something from the game.
“There was a real belief from myself and the staff that we could achieve something today.
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“I thought we were the better team in the second half, our press was really good and we created some good chances on the counter.
“I feel we could have done better.”
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